Washington isn't swooning over Open Source

"Despite strong pleas from some open-source proponents for the government to encourage the use of open-source software, at the exclusion of proprietary wares (read: Windows), Washington isn't about to upset the status quo.

Office of Management and Budget associate director Mark Forman, the nation's de facto CIO, says each agency's needs will decide whether to go open source. "We don't have a policy view in applying open source versus commercial licenses in software," Forman says. "It would make sense to use something more open-source than something proprietary if an agency has a J2EE architecture. But, for enterprise applications, such as ERP or financial-management systems, using proprietary software would likely be more appropriate."